My friend and business partner, Florian Mueck and I are thrilled to announce the launch of the app for Rhetoric – The Public Speaking Game™. It has been an incredible journey.

A few years ago, we looked for board games specifically designed for public speaking but could not find any. Because public speaking is such an important skill, we thought, why not create something that helps people improve and makes the experience an enjoyable one? And so RHETORIC, the world’s first public speaking board game, was born.

The first edition, released in 2011, was a big success, selling out completely to people around the world. The second, limited edition was released in 2015 and it has been just as popular. RHETORIC is now played on all continents and is used by business people, high school teachers, university professors, trainers, Agile learning coaches and people who want to have a unique experience with friends and family.

Today, we have brought RHETORIC to the digital world. Our app represents the next step in the evolution of the game. It is the culmination of countless hours of work and an unquantifiable amount of passion. To create the app, we worked with the amazing people at Blowing Minds, a terrific indie game studio in Barcelona.

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Going digital has allowed us to add some fantastic features to the game. The two most significant are:

RHETORIC can now be played in different languages! The launch version of the app comes with five languages loaded: English, Spanish, French, German and Catalan. More languages will be added to future versions. (If you would like to see RHETORIC in a particular language and would like to help translate it, please let us know.)

We plan to create additional packs of game cards that will be added to the app. Each new pack will have a special theme (e.g. business, family, travel, etc.). Stay tuned for more details!

RHETORIC is available here in Apple’s App Store* and here on Google Play. It looks great on tablets and smartphones. If you like what you see, we would be so grateful if you would rate the app and leave a comment. It helps spread the word and build the community.

Now, it’s your turn to speak!

*If you are wondering why only my name appears under the icon on the App Store, it is because Apple only allows one name. We used my iTunes account to create the app developer account and so it had to be my name. Google has no such restriction and both our names appear beside the icon on Google Play. The effort, energy and enthusiasm that Florian and I have put into RHETORIC has been 50-50 from Day 1.

Thank you for the question. Our plan is to update the app on a regular basis to add more languages and, yes, to add more themes to “increase the bank of topics” as you have put it. (And of course, we will update the app to take care of any bugs that might arise, though thus far, it has been smooth sailing.)

Our first planned update is already in the works. We will soon be releasing the Family theme of cards to the app. When we do, players will have the option of playing the Classic version or the Family version. We hope to have it available before Christmas. When the update is released, the price of the app will increase (by $1.00 or so); however, anyone who has purchased the app before the release date will get the update for free.

I hope this answers your questions. If you have others, just let me know. And if you decide to buy the app and you like it, please leave a review and rating on the App Store or Google Play.

Reblogged this on Health Continuum and commented:
Quite often, anxiety and public speaking go together. Many people experience sweaty palms, a racing heart and shallow breathing whenever they have to speak in front of an audience. The scientific term for this fear is glossophobia. However, public speaking doesn’t have to be that way. With practice, you can turn your anxiety into pleasure and excitment, and overcome your fears. Here’s a great app created by Florian Mueck and my husband, John Zimmer, that will help you practice your speaking skills with family, friends and colleagues. And, you will have fun in the process!